HUNTING AND SHOOTING in 



travagances, who wasted a large fortune and died 

 unhappily. His life has been published ; a brief 

 account of it may be read in the Dictionary of 

 National Biography. The son's career seemed 

 moulded on that of his father, and he too wasted 

 a fortune that had somehow accrued to him, and died 

 prematurely. There was no question as to his ability 

 and power over others. 



A more or less unfortunate fate befell most of 

 my other companions at the Hunt Club. Many of 

 the small party who habitually dined there were social 

 favourites, and two at least of them were of more than 

 average social rank. Five of these men contrived to 

 ruin themselves by betting and gambling, and to end 

 unhappily. For all that, they were bright companions 

 in the heyday of their fortunes. They lived in good 

 style and as a rule not very prodigally, though all 

 had fits of recklessness. One of the most valuable 

 qualities in a man of moderately independent means 

 who has to live in a society of this kind is a careless- 

 ness to the attraction of gambling. 



A Leamington friend, Fazakerley, asked me to 

 the Highlands to shoot. His moor was called Culrain ; 

 it was about fifteen miles long by three broad, and 

 the small house on it was three miles from Bonar 

 Bridge. I bought a beautiful Irish setter which a 

 friend chose for me, and we shot in the leisurely 

 fashion of those days, when driving game was never 

 practised. I slept in a neighbouring bothy, for the 

 house was small, and I quickly obtained some know- 

 ledge of English sport on the moors. At the end of 

 the season, the weather being still fine, I made my 

 way to John O'Groat's House, opposite the Orkneys, 



